LeBron James spoke to reporters after the Cavs’ morning shootaround in Denver and addressed (again) the struggles of his team, the reported/but refuted feud between him and point guard Kyrie Irving and what he sees in the Nuggets. The good part though is at the one-minute mark: Read more…

And yes he has opinions on the Nuggets. This is part of what he said about his former team in an interview with The Post, for my weekly Nuggets/NBA column, which will be available on Sunday.

On the difficulty of mixing and matching players with minute-restrictions: “I always liked that stuff. I liked ‘Okay, he can’t play tonight or he can only play 20 minutes.’ Because anytime you limited me, it opened up the opportunity for something else. And I’ve always enjoyed that, because in the CBA you had a lot of that.” Read more…

The 1-3 Nuggets host the 1-3 Cavaliers Friday evening in a matchup most expected (perhaps unreasonably so) to look wildly different at this point. The Cavs, with a new big three of LeBron James, Kevin Love and Kyrie Irving have struggled early, while James has faced the most criticism for being too passive.

The Nuggets didn’t carry as high of expectations this season, though the return of many players from injury gave fans hope that they wouldn’t see a repeat of last year’s 36-46 record.

But four games in both teams carry the same record, and the Nuggets’ official Twitter account took advantage Thursday.

Nuggets players Kenneth Faried, left, and JaVale McGee watch during their game against the Kings on Wednesday. (AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli)

All options remain on the table for Nuggets coach Brian Shaw in his quest to get his team headed in the right direction. The main issue at the moment is the starting five, which has not performed up to par through the first four games, putting a particular bad taste in Shaw’s mouth after getting down big early in the Nuggets’ loss at Sacramento on Wednesday.

“What I have to do better is recognize when we don’t get off to a good start and when guys aren’t really getting into it, then I have to immediately go to the bench, use a timeout quicker, cut these runs. You start the game 0-0, look up and we’re down 12 already or down 20. So that’s on me.” Read more…

Rocky hands LeBron James a replica Carmelo Anthony jersey during the Nuggets’ game against the Timberwolves in 2004. (Kathryn Scott Osler, The Denver Post)

On Friday, LeBron James will face the Nuggets for the 21st time in his career — 11th in Denver — and he comes equipped with a new pair of sidekicks and the same set of critics. The Cavaliers, with big man Kevin Love and point guard Kyrie Irving, have struggled to find their rhythm four games in, and the King has already taken heat for being too passive in the Cavs’ early going.

But the Nuggets, reeling from their second consecutive loss to the Kings, know a thing or two about early season struggles, and for two teams that many expected to be on different ends of the spectrum — and who may still end up that way — Friday’s matchup at Pepsi Center will undoubtedly be interesting.

In light of their upcoming game, we decided to dig through The Post’s archives and found this gem of LeBron in Denver on April 24, 2004.Read more…

Nate Robinson wore a pair of Air Jordan “Miro” 7s for the Nuggets’ loss to the Kings on Wednesday. (Rich Pedroncelli, The Associated Press)

There were few bright spots in the Nuggets’ blowout loss to the Kings on Wednesday, their second loss to Sacramento in three nights.

But Nate Robinson provided a pair — literally. The Nuggets’ guard, known for having one of the biggest shoe collections among pro athletes let alone NBA players, wore a pair of Air Jordan 7 (Retro) “Miro”s. Fewer than 1,000 pairs of these Jordans were released in 2008, and none in the United States, according to SneakerFiles.com.

Of course, it wasn’t the first time Robinson has donned his “Miro” 7s. He wore them when he was with the Bulls in 2013 and scored 34 points in 29 minutes in a triple-overtime win against the Nets in the first round of the playoffs.

SACRAMENTO – Three takeaways the morning after the Nuggets 131-109 loss to Sacramento on Wednesday night.

1. Starter’s remorse. Slow starts have been a common theme in all of the Nuggets four games this season, but on Wednesday night the starting lineup hit new lows. Off-kilter from the start, the quintet of Ty Lawson, Arron Afflalo, Wilson Chandler, Kenneth Faried and Timofey Mozgov were blitzed early. It should be said that Chandler did get off to a good start, and was the only bright spot in the group. But generally, players were slow to get to their spots to initiate offense or were late in paying attention to the play call; no player forced the issue to the rim to get fouls, as they watched Sacramento do all night; there were instances where players were in areas that made it difficult for others to operate; they were slow to recognize mismatches or actions that could have resulted in easier looks. The Kings played great defensively, that should not be overlooked. But the Nuggets didn’t make it extraordinarily difficult from the opening tip. Read more…

The former Nuggets and Sixers guard is in the Philippines for the “All In” celebrity basketball game and spoke to reporters about an array of subjects, from his top five NBA players, to his 16-year-old son, to why he wants to mentor young players.

He also, jokingly, offered up this gem: “I’d never want to be a coach. We’d never practice.”

For nearly three and a half years now, the J.R Smith-Raja Bell double flop has been, in my mind, the greatest show of artistry and shoddy acting on an NBA court. The two were perfectly in unison as they fell to the floor, arms flailing, as Deron Williams casually glanced over in time to see the two hit the court.

There have been other good flops, but none have come close to whatever happened in that Feb. 2011 game. How did they both end up flying like that? Did they plan it? Did they secretly discuss it on the previous play — “OK, on three we flop. Got it?” And what was Williams thinking?

It’s a thing a beauty, and I say this knowing the King of Flopping, Manu Ginobili, has over the years masteredthe artof it. (And, yes, I truly believe it’s an art.) His work has yet to overtake Smith’s and Bell’s masterpiece though.

However, one play Monday in an otherwise dull (at best) game between the Nuggets and Kings made me question my allegiance to the Smith-Bell double-flop. At a time when the league is supposedly cracking down on flopping, Kenneth Faried, Rudy Gay and DeMarcus Cousins engaged in the rare triple-flop, all three collapsing to the floor simultaneously for no apparent reason. Bizarre. Weird. Awesome.

After watching it a good 10 or so times (I lead a very meaningful life), I’ve decided that, rare as it may be, it’s not impressive enough to overtake the Smith-Bell act. The dramatics didn’t do it for me. The fall wasn’t hard enough. Their facial expressions weren’t of complete bafflement. I wasn’t sold.

But it was pretty good and has earned a spot among my top five all-time flops. Behold:Read more…

Sacramento’s Rudy Gay posts up Denver’s Alonzo Gee during the fourth quarter of Monday night’s game at the Pepsi Center. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)

Three takeaways the morning after the Nuggets 110-105 loss to Sacramento on Monday night.

1. Chandler’s fourth could be a boost. Wilson Chandler spent his Sunday night at the Pepsi Center, on the Nuggets practice court, getting shot after shot up in hopes of turning around a frigid start from the perimeter this season. For three quarters on Monday it appeared he’d have to endure another frustrating night – until things started to click for him in the fourth quarter.

After making just 1-of-7 shots for two points through three quarters, Chandler hit 4-of-8, including a 3-pointer in the fourth. He scored 12 points in the period in what may turn out to be a fortunes-changing 12 minutes for the veteran. Shaw pointed out the majority of his points were “drives to the basket,” but making those also gave him the confidence to step out an nail a shot from beyond the arc. Read more…

OKLAHOMA CITY — The morning after the Nuggets 102-91 loss at Oklahoma City, here are three observations I took away from the game. And a few other things.

1. Ty’s aggressiveness. The Nuggets ran a play at the start of the game at the Thunder designed for Ty Lawson to quickly get a shot up and get going early. But the play broke down in the face of a stifling Oklahoma City defense and he was not able to get off to the fast start that they’d hoped. That generally lasted most of the first half. There were few driving lanes, there were even fewer fast break opportunities because the Nuggets weren’t getting consistent stops and rebounds on the defensive end. “I think they had 21 free throw attempts in the first half,” Nuggets coach Brian Shaw said. “So that kind of just messed up the flow of the game. So either they were going to the free throw line or they were hitting shots. And now we have to take the ball out of the net every time, and they get to set up their defense.” Read more…

When: It was an action-packed start to the season for the NBA, which crammed in a lot of games in its first week. Sacramento forward Rudy Gay got 2014-15 started on the right foot and for that reason is The Post’s first NBA player of the week this season. The evaluation will go from Saturday-Friday each week.

What’s up: Gay averaged 27.0 points and 8.5 rebounds for the Kings, which split its first two games of the season but got one huge victory over Portland on Friday night. Overall, Gay shot 52 percent from the field and 50 percent from the 3-point line. He had a game-high 40 points in the Kings’ win over the Trail Blazers. His efficiency rating was 26.5, which ranked 11th overall and fifth among players who played at least two games.

Background: Arguably no player draws the ire of the analytics set more than Gay, who is continually held up as a poster child for inefficiency. Well, for at least one week he gets a reprieve, particularly in taking just 19 shots to get to 40 points against Portland. Gay made 13 of those, including 3-of-4 from 3-point range, and added eight rebounds.

Dempsey’s take: Gay has long been one of the NBA’s best one-on-one players. He can get any shot he wants on the court and is among the best finishers in the league. The volume of shots he takes has been in question, as well as his ability to stop the flow of the offense to get his opportunities — a criticism that also has been leveled at Knicks star forward Carmelo Anthony. But what isn’t in question is his talent. Gay remains a high-level player and will get every opportunity to lead a young team to what the Kings hope is a successful season.

Donning a JaVale McGee No. 34 jersey while perched on a ladder in front of Pepsi Center on Wednesday was Gamma Acosta, a local graffiti artist who has freehand spray-painted a number of murals around the city of the Broncos and Peyton Manning.

As the Nuggets battled the Pistons on the court in their season opener, Acosta was just feet away, framing the visages of Kenneth Faried, Ty Lawson and Arron Afflalo, one spray of paint at a time, starting at 8:30 a.m. and finishing a little after 10:30 p.m.

On Thursday, the billboard went up at the intersection of Broadway St. and Louisiana Ave., where it will stay for a month before rotating to another of the Nuggets’ billboard locations around the city.

Acosta and the Nuggets teamed with Mile High Outdoor, an advertising company that operates more than 400 billboards throughout the state, on the project. The mural now stands as one of the few, if not the only, paint-on-canvas billboards in the area; most are digital displays or posters draped over a frame.

As the team and Acosta brainstormed ideas that could be completed in the short timespan, they settled on an image of three players:

Nuggets forward Kenneth Faried goes up for two of his 22 points against the Pistons on Monday night. (Andy Cross, The Denver Post)

1. Winning ugly. The Nuggets held Detroit to 79 points, the second time in the Brian Shaw era that his team has held an opponent to 80 or fewer points. The Nuggets are 2-0 in those games. Style matters, and winning these types of games matters. The Nuggets have proven over the years they can win when the games are high-octane. Where they’ve struggled is in getting victories in games that have a huge defensive tilt. Not on Wednesday. They held the Pistons to 36 percent shooting, they forced 16 turnovers and scored 17 points off of them. They won the rebounding battle 51-45. They held Josh Smith to seven points on 3-of-10 shooting after he scored 15 points on 6-of-12 shooting in the first quarter. Alonzo Gee completely wrecked the Pistons offense at the point of attack in the fourth quarter, getting up into Detroit point guard D.J. Augustin, which didn’t allow him to get the offense going in rhythm.

Spurs coach Gregg Popovich told Bleacher Report that he never thought hiring Becky Hammon as an assistant would cause such a stir.

“Honestly, I didn’t realize it was gonna be this big of a deal,” he said. “People kind of went crazy, like we’ve saved the world from fascism or something.”

This is one of the few times where Popovich, widely regarded as one of the greatest NBA coaches, was wrong. It is a big deal.

Hammon is a big deal.

Tuesday evening, when the Spurs host the Mavericks (6 p.m. MT, TNT) to open the 2014-15 NBA season, Hammon will make history as the first paid female assistant coach in any of the four major North American pro sports. The Colorado State product and soon-to-be Colorado Hall of Fame inductee, will do what she’s done so many times before: break down a barrier not just for females but everyone in sports.

While at CSU, from 1995-99, Hammon became the all-time leading scorer in the Western Athletic Conference — man or woman — and set career program records in nearly every offensive category: total points (2,740), scoring average (21.92 per game), field goals made (918), field goals attempted (1,894), free throws made (539), free throws attempted (641), steals (315), assists (538), made 3-pointers (365) and attempted 3-pointers (888).

She signed with the WNBA’s New York Liberty in May of 1999 after going undrafted and, in 16 seasons and with two teams, has since appeared in six All-Star Games and was voted as one of the best 15 players in league history.

Her numbers and achievements speak for themselves, but gaining the support of NBA greats like Popovich and Kobe Bryant, and even the President of the United States, isn’t easy and its significance can’t be overstated.Read more…

Nuggets point guard Ty Lawson returns to the court Wednesday for the Nuggets’ season opener. (John Leyba, The Denver Post)

Two days before the Nuggets’ opener against the Pistons, point guard Ty Lawson took to Reddit to answer fans’ questions in an “Ask Me Anything” session. Some of his responses were expected, but others (his favorite Pokemon?) will surprise you.

The Nuggets open the 2014-15 season Wednesday at home against the Pistons, and despite the bleak outlook many in and out of the NBA have for Denver this year, GM Tim Connelly has high hopes.

After a season in which they turned in one of their worst records ever (36-46), the Nuggets are, for the most part, finally healthy. They bring with him some new faces and depth that few teams can match.

Connelly who will be at Session Kitchen this evening as part of The Denver Post’s Nuggets Night, along with Christopher Dempsey and Benjamin Hochman (it’s not too late to buy tickets!), joined The Press Box Monday morning to weigh in on the season, and some players he has views as key pieces to the team’s success.

“The core of this team has won together, and they’ve done it before as presently constructed,” Connelly said. “Some of our peripheral guys are guys that we can count on, our depth makes us unique. And the second year under both (coach) Brian (Shaw) and myself, there’s a lot more continuity that often times helps with success. I’m optimistic by nature, but objectively, we have a bunch of guys that are good to very good NBA players who are playing with a chip on their shoulder.”

With the addition of 7-footer Jusuf Nurkic via the draft, the Nuggets are now stacked at the center position, where he’ll fight for minutes with veterans JaVale McGee and Timofey Mozgov.Read more…

The NBA has opened a new, state-of-the-art replay center at the league’s office in Secaucus, N.J., that “will enhance the performance of time, ensuring they have the best angles to make conclusive calls when a play is reviewable.”

The center, which looks a lot like NASA’s Mission Control Center, includes 20 replay stations and 94 television monitors, and will be connected to all 29 NBA arenas.Read more…

Watching Kenneth Faried and the Nuggets at Pepsi Center will cost you an average of $165 a ticket this season. (John Leyba, The Denver Post)

Thanks primarily to a slew of injuries, the Nuggets posted their worst record in over a decade last year (36-46) and failed to make the playoffs for the first time since 2002, before Carmelo Anthony was drafted.

But according to VividSeats.com, the average Nuggets ticket prices on the secondary market for home games this season has jumped to $165, up from $114 at the start of last last season when they were coming off their best record (57-25) in franchise history.

The $165 average makes the Nuggets the eighth-cheapest home ticket among NBA teams (sixth-cheapest last year). The median ticket price is $70 this season, up from $60 at the start of the 2013-14 season.

LeBron James’ return to Cleveland has put the Cavaliers atop the list of most expensive average home ticket this season at $386 a pop. Last year, without James, the Cavs were the the least expensive ticket, at $88.

Chris Dempsey arrived at The Denver Post in Dec. 2003 after seven years at the Boulder Daily Camera, where he primarily covered the University of Colorado football and men's basketball teams. A University of Colorado-Boulder alumnus, Dempsey covers the Nuggets and also chips in on college sports.

Nicki Jhabvala is the Sports Digital News Editor for The Denver Post. Before arriving in Denver, she spent five years at Sports Illustrated working primarily as its online NBA editor, and she was most recently the overnight home page editor at the New York Times.